We cruised in May of 2017 on the Disney Fantasy. Here are 10 Mistakes I Made On The Disney Fantasy:
1. Going to Cabanas for lunch – We decided to head to Deck 11 to go to Cabanas for lunch. It was a madhouse. We should have gone to Enchanted Garden on deck 2.
2. Not closing our verandah door – The room quickly heats up if you leave the verandah door open for extended periods of time. We learned that the hot way! The kids wanted to go on the verandah and before I knew it, the room was hot and stuffy.
3. Not asking for help – Our air conditioning never seemed to cool the room all the way. I found out later that our knob should have adjusted it. I thought it had a set temperature and that was it. Next time I will make sure to request help.
4. Not asking for a door stop – One of the most challenging things with a stroller is trying to get everyone in the stateroom door. I should have asked the stateroom host for a door stop or I should have taken our stuff and our daughter out of the stroller and folded it before we entered the narrow hallway to our stateroom.
5. Not packing individual snacks – Our toddler loves veggie straws. I brought a big bag with us and some ziplocs to send some with her to the nursery. They told me that they only accept prepackaged individual snacks, so no veggie straws for her in the nursery.
6. Not considering the fact that excursions could be cancelled – I had booked parasailing for my teenager and really built up how exciting an experience it was going to be for her. The wind was high and the sea was rough so they cancelled parasailing. She was so disappointed and upset! Next time I will keep the excursions a surprise on the off chance that they could be cancelled again.
7. Not buying souvenirs ASAP – My husband found a t-shirt he liked and I told him to wait to buy it. When he went back, it was sold out. Since the ship has a limited stock of souvenirs, buy what you want when you see it.
8. Not turning off my internet package – I bought the $40 internet package and forgot to log out when I finished doing my tasks. Overnight it ate up all of my $40 package! That was a lot of money down the drain.
9. Not understanding how booking cruises works – If you book a future cruise while on a cruise, you can save 10% off your next cruise. I went to the desk to book it and found out there were 80 people ahead of me in the virtual queue. I decided to pass on the opportunity because I wasn’t getting up at 1 am to book it. I should have gone to this desk to be put in the virtual queue on the first night instead of the last.
10. Not getting my bearings – I got turned around and lost on the ship so many times! I should have spent more time figuring out how to navigate the ship instead of just winging it. There is a map of every deck on the Disney Cruise Line app that I should have utilized more.
What mistakes have you made on a Disney Cruise?
We have taken 2 Disney Cruises in the past (2009 and 2012) and are booked for Sept. 2021. In doing my research for new information, as so much changed between our cruises, this was THE BEST INFORMATION I have seen in the last 2 weeks of research. I am not new to Disney cruising, but always looking for ways to enhance the experience. Thank you so much!
That is a great idea thanks
No need to wait in any kind of line for the next cruise discount. You simply fill out a card that you want to book a future cruise, they charge a deposit of 250 to you. You have 2 years to take a cruise. You can decide once home which cruise.
That is a great idea thanks
We consider one of our mistakes not doing late dining. We listened to our travel agent instead of thinking about what would work best for us. I thought to ask to have it changed before our first dinner and I’m not sure if it could have changed, but it would have been worth asking
Email DCL and tell them there was too much of a wait to book your holding reservation on board. They may still book it for you. I was able to do that last time. Hope that helps. The discount is not huge but better than nothing.
I highly recommend getting a placeholder cruise instead, that way you don’t have to waste your time making a decision about dates right away. They actually leave a card in your room (not sure what day) that gives you the option to get a quote by ship mail when the TA has the opportunity, or to just book something for you, and you can request the placeholder through this without even having to go talk to someone! You just drop the filled out card in a small mailbox at the TA desk.
We also were on the three night Fantasy Double Dip. Many things that SHOULD have been fixed during DryDock were not. AC was a biggie!! Ours was fine, but we were double porthole Oceanview, so we did not have the same issue.
Cruise Desk. That WAS a nightmare!! I could never get there at a good time. So, also in the last day, I was tenth in line just to put my name in the Waiting Line. I went back 45 minutes later and STILL waited 50 minutes to book my PLACEHOLDERS!!!
This was wonderful! I have been doing lots of homework to make our vacation magical, I see a lot of the same advice over and over. These were all new ideas, thank you!
My son and I are booked for the April 24 2021 cruise and I’m really starting to regret it. We’re both adults but this was a dream of his and with all of the chaos at WDW, we felt this would be the better choice. However after reading this and all other pins, I think we should have saved our hard earned money and just booked Carnival again. Carnival has never let us down like it seems Disney regularly does with its passengers.
I’m disappointed before I even go!
I made some of the same mistakes. We were on the Disney Dream in May. We were disappointed that parasailing was cancelled as well as the other activity that we had booked due to high winds. I think I set my expectations too high for this cruise and I was sorely disappointed. The food quality was terrible and the service just wasn’t what it used to be. The pricier mistake was not buying the photo package ahead of time. It was hard to resist not buying the photos.